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March 22, 1955 Q FREER 2,704,656

LIQUID COOLING APPARATUS Filed June 6, 1951 I I II II F 5 l I III II 2 I I I 9 I I III! I I If. '17 !I I "II II '51 l l I I 24H l6 I II III I II IZ I il I I II II ,III I 4 21 INVENTOR. l CLYDE f? FREE)? /8 United States Patent "ice LIQUID COOLING APPARATUS Clyde P. Freer, Warren, Ohio, assignor to Halsey W. Taylor Company, Warren, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application June 6, 1951, Serial No. 230,229

1 Claim. (Cl. 257-190) My invention relates to liquid cooling apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus of the fountain type water cooler, and the principal object of my invention is to provide new and improved apparatus of the character disclosed.

One of the most perplexing problems which occur in storage containers of the type mentioned, is caused by the necessity of complying with the standard specification which requires that apparatus must be capable of discharging a considerable quantity of its stored water at a substantially colder temperature than the inlet water. This, in itself, is not necessarily difficult; the difliculty arises from the additional requirement that the apparatus must not freeze the stored waterduring the long periods of time when no cooled water is being withdrawn.

In order to meet the heavy draw requirement mentioned, my invention provides for keeping the stored, previously refrigerated water separated from the relatively warm incoming water until the incoming water has been cooled to a temperature approximating that of the stored water. The means for accomplishing this, and other advantages, will appear from a study of the following description.

In the drawing accompanying this specification and forming a part of this application, there is shown, for purpose of illustration, an embodiment which my invention may assume, and in this drawing:

Figure l is an elevational view, with parts broken away and parts in section, showing a water cooler incorporating the embodiment of my invention,

Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the liquid container,

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the liquid container illustrated in Figure 2, certain parts being broken away to show the internal construction,

Figure 4 is a plan view of a detail, and

Figure 5 is a plan view of another detail.

Referring to the drawing, the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed is shown as applied to a drinking fountain of any standard construction, although it will be appreciated that my invention has application other than that particularly disclosed.

The drinking fountain 10, as herein shown, provides a water bubbler 11 connected to a control valve 12, and also provides a suitable drain 13 for disposing of overflow water. The valve 12 is connected, by means of a conduit 15, to the water cooling apparatus 14 which comprises my invention. It will be appreciated that certain other connections may be provided, such as for the control of temperature and the like, but since these connections form no part of the present invention, their disclosure is believed unnecessary.

The water cooling apparatus 14 comprises a closed tank formed by a cylindrical shell 16, an upper head 17, and a lower head 18. It will be understood that the heads 17, 18 may be secured to the shell 16 to form a leak-proof assembly, by any suitable means, such as by welding.

A refrigerant coil 19 is wound about the exterior of the shell 16 and the coil 19 may be securely held in thermal transfer relationship with the shell by dipping the assembly into a hot tin bath. As shown in Figure 2, the convolutions of the coil 19 are preferably slightly spaced apart so that a rupture in the coil 19 would allow the escape of the refrigerant gases without exerting pressure against the shell 16. As shown in Figure l, opposite ends of the refrigerant coil 19 are connected in 2,704,656 Patented Mar. 22, 1955 the well-known manner to any commercially available refrigeration unit 20.

Referring particularly to Figures 2 and 3, it will be seen that a plurality of fins 21 (herein shown to be four) are disposed longitudinally of the interior of the tank. These fins may be formed of sheet metal, and as shown in Figure 4, they are of generally undulatory or star-shaped configuration. The fins 21 are placed one above the other inside the tank, and as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, each is ofi-set radially with respect to its adjacent fin. The foregoing provides a honey-combed annular passage around the inner surface of the shell 16 through which the incoming water will be tortuously led.

Each of the fins 21 is preferably made slightly larger in diameter than the internal diameter of the shell 16. At assembly, the fins may be slightly compressed and insorted into the shell and permitted to spring outwardly into engagement with the inner surface of the shell 16. The fins may then be tinned into place by the method used in securing the coil 19 to the shell. This will secure the fins to the shell and form a single thermal conductive unit between the fins, the shell, and the refrigerant coil.

As illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, bafiles 24, herein shown to be two in number, are placed across the interior of the tank to direct the flow of water therethrough. These baffles may be formed of sheet metal and as shown in Figure 5, they are formed with a noncircular periphery. The baffles 24 are presently formed with an octagonal configuration, the diameter across the points of the bafiles being preferably slightly less than the internal diameter of the shell 16 so that the bafiles may be easily inserted into the shell. The baflles 24 are formed in the manner described so they will remain centered in the shell during assembly and not slip to one side to reduce the opening between the shell and the bafiles through which the water must flow. The bafiles 24 are assembled before the fins 21 are tinned, and the entire assembly may be tinned at one time.

A conduit 25, centrally located in the head 17, is connectable to a source of water under pressure, and this conduit 25 discharges the incoming water into the top of the tank. The conduit 15, as previously disclosed, leads from the lower head 18 to the valve 12. From the foregoing, it will be evident that when the valve 12 is opened, pressure in the conduit 25 will displace water in the tank out through the conduit 15. A conduit 26, leading from the top of the tank to the conduit 15, is provided to automatically bleed trapped air from the tank when it is first filled with water.

With particular reference to Figure 2, and assuming that the tank is filled with water which has been cooled by circulation of refrigerant in the coil 19, operation will be as follows: When the valve 12 is turned to open position by an operator, cold water in the lowermost portion of the tank will flow through conduit 15, to the valve 12, and thence to the bubbler 11. Warm inlet water, entering the tank through the conduit 25, will strike the top bafile 24 and be directed radially thereby to the wall of the shell 16. This warm water will flow downwardly along the wall of the shell, being guided by the annularly positioned honey-combed passages formed by the fins 21. The off-set fins 21 impart a certain amount of turbulence to the water, and the open construction of the fins permits the downwardly moving water to diffuse somewhat with the cooled water already in the tank. Since the shell 16 is in direct contact with the refrigerant coils 19, and the fins 21 are in thermal conducting relationship with the shells 16, it will be evident that the water flowing downwardly along the inside of the shell will be very quickly cooled.

As shown in Figure 2, a lower baffle 24 is spaced below the upper baffle 24. This lower bafile prevents the downwardly flowing inlet water from leaving the wall of the shell and short-cycling directly to the outlet conduit 15.

From the preceding description, it will be seen that the incoming warm water is largely prevented from mixing with the cooled water in the tank until the incoming water has been cooled to a temperature substantially that of the previously cooled water. At the same time, since free circulation may take place between the difierent portions of the tank, excessively cold spots are not developed and there will be no tendency toward localized freezing.

In view of the foregoing it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that I have accomplished at least the principal object of my invention and it will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiment herein described may be variously changed and modified, without departing from the spirit of the invention, and that the invention is capable of uses and has advantages not herein specifically described, hence it will be appreciated that the herein disclosed embodiment is illustrative only, and that my invention is not limited thereto.

I claim:

Apparatus for refrigerating water for a drinking fountain, comprising a closed cylindrical water storage tank having a supply pipe for admitting non-refrigerated water to its upper end and a discharge pipe for conducting chilled water from its lower end to said fountain, a coil surrounding said tank in contiguous relation thereto for circulating a fluid refrigerant in close thermal contact with the exterior wall surface of said tank to chill the water admitted thereto, a plurality of substantially circular fin members each comprising an endless vertically corrugated strip disposed in superposed and staggered edge to edge contacting relation within said tank, the outer apices of said corrugations being disposed in thermal contact with the inner cylindrical wall surface of said tank to define therewith a plurality of vertically disposed circumferentially spaced tortuous water passages adjacent the chilled inner tank wall surface, and a plurality of substantially fiat vertically spaced baffle plates each of polygonal configuration extending transversely of and within said tank and disposed in horizontal contact with certain of said strips, the spaced apices of said polygonal plates being in substantial contact with said inner cylindrical tank wall surface to define therebetween and between said plate apices a plurality of adjoining water passages of segmental cross-section at the peripheries of said plates, the uppermost of said plates overlying and engaging the upper edge of an upper endless strip and a subjacent plate being interposed between and engaging opposed edges of lower immediately adjoining strips, said baffie plates successively directing the admitted water horizontally outwardly to the peripheral inner tank wall surface and thence downwardly through said vertical tortuous water passages to uniformly chill the tank contents.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,934,371 Mulfiy Nov. 7, 1933 2,183,509 Smith Dec. 12, 1939 2,237,246 Askin Apr. 1, 1941 2,532,026 Kellershon Nov. 28, 1950 2,605,620 Taylor Aug. 5, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 364,785 Germany Dec. 1, 1922 

